Failed Administrator now Acting Municipal Manager

Cllr Koos Venter writes:
The DA believes that this is the reason for the deterioration in the finances in eMalahleni under Van Vuuren’s watch.
When Van Vuuren was appointed administrator of the struggling Emalahleni Local Municipality, the council owed Eskom about R200-million and council’s debtors account was about R700-million. Two years later, under the leadership of Van Vuuren, eMalahleni owes Eskom R700 million and the debtors account has risen to R1,4-billion.

Under Van Vuuren’s leadership the municipality has received two disclaimers from the Auditor General, a disclaimer being the worst report that an auditor can issue. A third disclaimer for the current financial year is anticipated.
When questioned in council about the latest disclaimer, Van Vuuren replied that clean audit was not part of his mandate as administrator.

The Auditor General issues a disclaimer when the financial statements of an organization do not fairly present its actual financial position, are not in conformity with the provisions of the generally accepted accounting practice and the required information was either not disclosed, or if disclosed was inadequately disclosed or was inaccurate.
Furthermore, Van Vuuren claimed to have discovered seven cartels within the administration doing business with council. He promised forensic audits in all departments to end corruption. He also claimed that officials implicated in these cartels would be suspended and disciplinary action taken against them. To date nothing has happened in this regard.

The bodyguards that were appointed at a cost of R20m have already been paid for, but they are still contracted by the acting MM.
When Van Vuuren was appointed in April 2013, he promised to set up a call centre and have it running by the end of June 2013. This is still not in operation. His main method of communication is by using Facebook.
While some form of communication is welcomed it must be remembered that this is not a product that is available to the majority of residents.

The lack of finances is often used as an excuse for the poor condition of the city’s infrastructure. However an infrastructure grant is allocated to the local municipality to upgrade the infrastructure. On a regular basis, the full amount of this grant remains unspent by eMalahleni so it is then surrendered back to the national treasury.
The DA believes that Van Vuuren’s appointment as administrator, and now as acting municipal manager, is yet another case of the ANC’s cadre deployment.

Many residents believe that because he communicates to the public via Facebook, he is an efficient manager. However, being a good communicator does not necessarily make you a good manager. A well-equipped and properly managed Call Centre would be far more effective and efficient.

The truth of the matter is that eMalahleni is now in a far worse position than it was before Van Vuuren was appointed to ‘rectify’ matters.